Share this:

A turncoat pal of O.J. Simpson’s sacked the defense yesterday, saying for the first time that the Juice knew guns were used to rob two sports-memorabilia dealers last year.

The surprising testimony of longtime friend Charles Ehrlich was a major blow to Simpson, on trial in Las Vegas for allegedly leading a band of thugs into the Palace Station Hotel & Casino on Sept. 13, 2007, to hold up two men who had thousands of dollars’ worth of O.J. memorabilia.

The former Heisman Trophy winner and one-time NFL MVP has maintained that he stood in front of his co-defendants and couldn’t have known they had guns.

But Ehrlich testified that Simpson was aware armed force was used against sports collectors Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.

Ehrlich, who was originally bound to stand trial with Simpson, had cut a deal with prosecutors just before jury selection.

“Someone said, ‘Put the gun away!’ ” Ehrlich said of the confrontation in Room 1203. “I believe it was Mr. Simpson.”

Ehrlich said he confronted Simpson afterward at the former football star’s swanky room at the Palms hotel.

“He said there were no guns. I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ ” Ehrlich recalled. “He started mumbling to himself and said, ‘Why did I ask those guys [the armed men] to come along?’ He was in denial.”

Riccio said a gun was pointed at his head as Simpson looked his way. The gun, he said, was carried by Michael McClinton, who has also cut a deal and is expected to testify.

McClinton’s gun “was right along here,” Riccio said, pointing to his own left ear. “When he [Simpson] was talking to me, he [Simpson] was looking in my direction.”

Ehrlich’s testimony came hours after another courtroom drama – when celebrity crime connoisseur Dominick Dunne was rushed to a hospital.

The 82-year-old writer, who normally sits in a back-row seat next to the courtroom exit, told a bailiff that he felt unbearable discomfort in his lower body and that he would go back to his hotel room.

But the cop, aware that Dunne has been fighting bladder cancer, called paramedics. The Vanity Fair scribe was released after being diagnosed with an infection treatable with medication.